52 Ancestors In 2022-February Week 7...Crash LANDING

February Week 7...LANDING

As a pilot and navigator, he was assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing in Guam.  He flew the first airlift into Japan after their surrender during World War II.  During the cold War he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command to fly converted B-29s to refuel U.S. Strategic bombers.  He was one of the first pilots to perform air-to-air refueling.

In 1955, this Command Pilot flying B47's for the Strategic Air Command Crash Landed.  His B-47 exploded in mid-air over the eastern Canadian wilderness.  One of the objectives of the flight was to test a new type of flight suit.  When he was miraculously found alive four days later, he had bravely used his parachute to fashion a tourniquet for his badly mangled leg and built a shelter.  A pack of wolves surrounded the crash site and the badly wounded pilot.  He later said the wolves had saved his life by protecting him from an aggressive moose.

  The test suit having been designed to endure the cold of high altitude flight played a major role in surviving the Canadian wilderness extreme conditions.  After being rescued he lost his leg to amputation.  He was the first Air Force pilot to be reinstated to fly with a prosthetic.  He was a Missle Man (Silo Launch) and Four-Headed Monster pilot, navigator, bombardier and radar man for B-47 Stratojet Bombers.

During his distinguished career he received many awards most notably the World War II Victory Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and the coveted Aviator's Valor Award.  He commanded the AF Recruiting and Language Schools at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, before retiring as Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Leland Pittman.

Willard C. Pittman and Thomas L. Pittman 

Sons of brothers Chappo and Cobb Pittman and sisters Estella and Mary Ella Carroll Pittman

Making my Dad Willard and Tom...Double First Cousins

Willard Carroll Pittman 1927-1988

Thomas L. Pittman 1920-2006